The Chairman on the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) has written to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe calling for the "immediate and unconditional" release of two political prisoners saying that one "has been targeted as a result of his legitimate work in the defence of human rights" whilst the charges laid against the other are simply "unfounded". The letter also draws attention to the death threats recently received by two leading human rights lawyers and complains that there has been no response from the authorities to requests to protect them.

The April 27th letter from Mark Muller QC specifically highlights the concerns that the BHRC has around the ongoing detention of human rights activist Carmelo Agamez and human rights lawyer Elkin Ramirez, who has been in custody since November 2006 without having been convicted of any crime whatsoever. The Committee describes the accusations of paramilitary links made against Mr Agamez, who has been in jail since November 2008, as 'implausible' given his work to highlight paramilitary abuses and given the fact that he has appeared on several paramilitary death lists.

In their letter, which can be read in full here, the BHRC also sets out how the ongoing detention of the two men is in violation of Colombia's obligations under international law.